Posts by MB

The final race in my Tri-ple Triathlon crown was the Ironman World Championships in Kona. After 70.3 Worlds, I flew home for a week then headed out to Kona early for a heat training camp with Siri and the team. The block in Kona couldn’t have gone better. My injury healed up and by race week in Kona I was acclimated, healthy, and ready to fly. To help illustrate my race day in Kona, my trusty best friend Keiki offered to act out the day in illustrations for me. I got up just before 4am and forced down some bread and eggs. I was so excited to get going and race morning started with some extra drama as a centipede bit Eric on our way to Starbucks. When I did arrive to the pier, I got stuck into the process of getting my bike ready for a long day. I did a little pre-race jog to loosen up things and the necessary pre-race toilet then got into the water. I lined up to the far left all by myself. I had a good start as I learned the creep from the best, Julie Dibens. Into the swim, I felt good sitting behind what I thought was the two leaders except I was being bashed by the swimmer next to me every stroke. I fought for my position but Ms. Basher wouldn’t let me go ahead of her so I settled behind her. On the way home, I was disappointed to see the swimmer in front of me had lost the feet. I pulled around and swam hard the last 900 meters to try to keep in contact with the leaders. Out of the swim, I was pleased to see that I wasn’t too far behind. It was time to ride. This race being the first Ironman I have ever been rested for I went a bit nut-bar during the first 10K of the bike where I am usually pretty conservative. I bridged up the gap to Jodie in the first two miles of the bike. When I pulled ahead to take the lead, Jodie was having none of it. She let me stay ahead for maybe a minute then re-passed me yelling that I wasn’t to go to the front if I was going to slow. Properly chastened yet again by Jodie, I let her take the lead knowing that I could help take the lead later in the race when she finally would let me go to the front. After another 10K Meredith went to the front and again I could tell Jodie was having none of it. Only this time, I could see the official eyeballing Jodie who eager to get the pace back up was sitting a hair too close to Meredith for a hair too long. I didn’t have long to ponder that as...

The hard competitive race in Hyvee left me like a wounded soldier shot in the butt. I hobbled around the entire week before 70.3 Worlds not sure if I would be able to bike or run. At the start of the week, Siri and I decided to table the issue and what and see what happened. As the week wore on I was getting treatment and finally able to bike almost normally and start jogging very slowly by Thursday. Siri and I decided to give it a try on race day and go as long as the pain didn’t get any worse. Race morning was cold and crisp more fall than summer. I woke up early and made my way to the bike transition. At least the swim looked warmed than the air with a nice steam coming off the scenic lake in Mt. Tremblant. The wetsuit swim would be nice and cozy both temperature wise and congestion as neoprene usually promises that things will be bunched together. I lined myself up at the far right side hoping that would help me stay out of the fray. It worked and I was able to get out fast and only saw Annabelle out faster to my left. Then as the faster swimmers pulled through I was able to slot in sitting comfortably behind Jodie and Helle. Out of the swim, I saw that we had a great group of strong athletes who I knew were all amazing cyclists. Right away the pack was very aggressive and I had trouble getting to the front. When I did, it only lasted for a minute as both Jodie and Daniela weren’t have any of it. I settled in for the long hard course in Mt. Tremblant as I knew the short hills in town were my strength but the stronger girls would make me suffer out on the highway with the longer less steep grades. I struggled as I thought I would on the way home and was completely dropped off and had to slowly work my way back up to Jodie and Helle only to be dropped again. I ended up riding the majority of the second half of the bike on my own at some points seeing the other girls but mostly chasing solo. It was a relief to pace the bike myself and meter out my energy to have enough to ride strong through the roly-poly out and back section that composed the last 20K of the bike ride. I averaged 235 watts for the bike ride, and was so pleased to see that I held the power through the entire ride. Off the bike, I noticed that my glute had really tighten up and wasn’t sure if I would be able to complete the run. I shortened my stride and tried to just increase my cadence and not push...

I love racing in Hyvee; the organization and event team do an amazing job every year of putting together an incredible race for the professionals. I was there in 2008, 2009, and 2010 when it was still an ITU race. This year was my first trip back to Hyvee, and it was just as memorable as a 5150/WTC event. Siri and I approached Hyvee with the goal of coming into the event very fit but un-rested since our target races were 70.3 Worlds and Kona. While it may have impacted my top gear, the body is incredibly resilient and often even without much rest I can still get a very hard effort out on race day. As a bonus, Hyvee is one of the few truly professional races where there is no downside to racing as every professional competitor walks away with a great paycheck at the end. Almost makes our sport seem well professional! Race day in Hyvee was exciting. The short races are always full-gas from the gun especially with super-fish in the race like Sara McLarty and Lauren Brandon. I had a decent swim getting only a bit bashed around a bit at the first buoy, but I was able to get past the fray with some dolphin diving on the way to the second buoy. After the first two buoys the swim settled down and I got into a comfortable rhythm sitting on feet. I raced onto the bike and went full gas from the start. My legs didn’t feel bad but I didn’t have the spark in my legs that I had in Kansas. I was very impressed with the bike legs of Jodie Swallow and Alicia Kaye. I wasn’t able to keep their pace as they bridged up to the leader Helle Frederickson. I rode solo the first two laps of the bike with some girls behind. During the second half, we picked up some of the faster swimmers and Lauren Goss pulled up to ride staggered. It was perfect as she kept our pace high during the end of the bike. Onto the run, I saw we only a small group and had a nice gap to the next girls on the road. Off the bike, my run legs felt average at best and a bit more sluggish than I would have liked. II did my best to push through the run – happy it was only 10K. With about two miles to go, all the pushing can back to bite me as I felt a strain deep in my glute. All year I have had some trouble with that muscle but I managed to train and race gingerly to not aggravate the issue. This time I was not so lucky. The last two miles of the run were a bit tough as the muscle strain prevented me from pushing and extending...

It has been over 3 weeks since the finale of my “Tri-ple Crown” the Kona Ironman World Championships. As the title of this blog would suggest, I have been slowly trying to swallow a season that hasn’t quite been what I desired. Time and distance don’t always provide answers but do inevitably allow a clearer view of the entirety of a season. Over the next week, I will release a recap of each part of the Tri-ple Crown starting with my race in Hyvee 5150 Championships, moving on to the 70.3 World Championships, the Ironman World Championships, and finishing with a summary of everything I learned this year that will help both you and me in our 2015 season. My triathlon triple crown started with the ambition to toe the start line at the three biggest championship races in non-drafting triathlon. But of course I had my personal goals to get a top ten in Hyvee, a top five in 70.3 Worlds, and a top 3 in Kona. I scrappily managed to achieve the first two goals but fell quite short of my final goal. As always, the results don’t tell the full story so I’ll cover all the gritty details in my race reports. If you played in my Tri-ple Crown Contests, Don’t forget to check my Facebook fan page to see if you are a BIG winner and thank you for playing!...

I have found that fueling is not a one-solution problem. In my experience, there is not a simple answer that works forever with every person in all race conditions. As I get more experienced at long distance racing, I have found that what I need during a race is different as my everyday diet changes, my training changes, and depending on race conditions. I need to adapt and adjust each year to find the best solution for my current body. Starting with what hasn’t changed. I do think that everyday nutrition is essential for helping to fuel and recover from training. On top of trying to eat as well as I can, I take First Endurance Multi-Vitamin and HP Optygen. Since I started taking these two daily, I have been more resilient physically and healthier. I don’t think that is a coincidence. In my first Ironman of this season, Ironman Melbourne, I screwed up in attaching my fuel to my bike and lost all my planned fuel except my two bottles of First Endurance EFS, only about 300 calories of fuel. I had to overcome and adapt but I ended the bike completely empty despite drinking the two EFS bottles and taking three bottles on course and drinking about another 400 calories from those combined bottles. It wasn’t enough calories for the 6 hours. But I found that taking EFS liquid shot flask and a banana right away in the first few miles of the run gave me 500 calories and I was able to finish the run feeling stronger and with more energy than ever before. I learned that it is never too late to fix the fueling. If you bonk, just take the time to force it in and you’ll come around. In my first race of the season, Panama 70.3, I had two EFS drink bottles and more fuel that I needed attached in supplemental gel and food attached to my bike. Unfortunately, I struggled with an unknown illness that caused me to throw up during the entire bike ride. In addition to myself, several other professional competitors in the race had a similar problem. I believe there was either a bug going around, something I ate before the race was bad, or I swallowed too much sea water during the Panama canal swim. It is hard to judge my nutrition strategy under the circumstances. The only nutrition I was able to keep down during the event was one bottle of EFS. The fact that in those hot and humid conditions that I was able to finish the race using only one bottle of EFS drink goes to show how incredible that solution is in hot humid conditions. Conversely in my most recent race, 70.3 St. George I adjusted my race morning nutrition and race day mix and had as near perfect race nutrition as possible. ...